Archival Photo Scanning
10/07/10 08:31
As a photo scanning service we’re familiar with a wide range of questions but in the main they are about how your scans will look and what can be done with them - photobooks, photo gifts, enlargements, canvas prints and so on. So when an out of the ordinary question comes along it stands out.
Early on Friday morning I took a call from an ideal client. He had assembled the entire family photo library, and organised it thoroughly. He knew who all the people were and most of the locations or events the pictures were taken. Seemed to me ideal for sharing and digitising. A great family resource online.
No, he didn’t want to do that. He was more than happy to place the photos into traditional albums and he’d planned out how he was going to do it, in some impressive detail. But before that he wanted a copy of his images. His first thought was to take them to the local photo copy shop but that wasn’t possible as black and white was affordable, colour too expensive and poor quality.
Which took him to our door - could we scan his photos, and keep them safe. Just in case? He’d probably never look at them but just wanted to know his archive was there, well, just in case. Yes, we can do that, and its at no charge.
Early on Friday morning I took a call from an ideal client. He had assembled the entire family photo library, and organised it thoroughly. He knew who all the people were and most of the locations or events the pictures were taken. Seemed to me ideal for sharing and digitising. A great family resource online.
No, he didn’t want to do that. He was more than happy to place the photos into traditional albums and he’d planned out how he was going to do it, in some impressive detail. But before that he wanted a copy of his images. His first thought was to take them to the local photo copy shop but that wasn’t possible as black and white was affordable, colour too expensive and poor quality.
Which took him to our door - could we scan his photos, and keep them safe. Just in case? He’d probably never look at them but just wanted to know his archive was there, well, just in case. Yes, we can do that, and its at no charge.
Two Killer Questions
05/07/10 08:05
As a photo scanning service operator I keep a close eye on the web and I’ve noticed a few “articles” on how to choose a photo scanning company.
Various lists, key points, vital features and so on - I’m sure you’ve seen this kind of thing. Some of the points make good sense, others less so; but all miss what seem to me to be the two killer questions for any scanning service. I’ll cover these in a moment but you have to understand that any image scanning service such as Free Photo Scanning is about delivering images from a source we haven’t seen.
So scanning service provider and photo scanning client are both in the dark. We don’t know how good or bad your original is and you don’t yet know how well or badly your photo will scan. Not the greatest foundation for a commercial relationship. Then you want to take this image and use it for a purpose - maybe a photobook, a mouse mat, or just get some reprints done. So, against that background here are the two killer questions.
First, do I have to pay for scanning my photos even if the result is unsatisfactory? This as a service provider is where most of our competitors fall down - you are expected to pay whatever the results.
Second, why should I have to pay for scanning when all I really want is something else? You are going to be paying often substantial sums of money for photo gifts such as canvas prints mounted in a heavy gilt frame, are you really going to squeeze an extra few pence or pounds out of me for scanning? Americans call it “nickel and diming”, inflating the cost by adding lots of little extra charges.
With Free Photo Scanning you get to see your images up online first. They’re scanned and put online at our cost. If at that point you decide to pay for a copy to download you know exactly what you’re getting.
If you only want the photo gift, no problem, you don’t have to pay for the scanning.
I think that makes us unique - a risk-free, cost free photo scanning service.
Various lists, key points, vital features and so on - I’m sure you’ve seen this kind of thing. Some of the points make good sense, others less so; but all miss what seem to me to be the two killer questions for any scanning service. I’ll cover these in a moment but you have to understand that any image scanning service such as Free Photo Scanning is about delivering images from a source we haven’t seen.
So scanning service provider and photo scanning client are both in the dark. We don’t know how good or bad your original is and you don’t yet know how well or badly your photo will scan. Not the greatest foundation for a commercial relationship. Then you want to take this image and use it for a purpose - maybe a photobook, a mouse mat, or just get some reprints done. So, against that background here are the two killer questions.
First, do I have to pay for scanning my photos even if the result is unsatisfactory? This as a service provider is where most of our competitors fall down - you are expected to pay whatever the results.
Second, why should I have to pay for scanning when all I really want is something else? You are going to be paying often substantial sums of money for photo gifts such as canvas prints mounted in a heavy gilt frame, are you really going to squeeze an extra few pence or pounds out of me for scanning? Americans call it “nickel and diming”, inflating the cost by adding lots of little extra charges.
With Free Photo Scanning you get to see your images up online first. They’re scanned and put online at our cost. If at that point you decide to pay for a copy to download you know exactly what you’re getting.
If you only want the photo gift, no problem, you don’t have to pay for the scanning.
I think that makes us unique - a risk-free, cost free photo scanning service.